Special Effects: The History and the Technique: Amazon.ca: Richard Rickitt: Books

Product Description

From Booklist

Rickett tells the story of that perennial box-office draw, special effects, from "trick photography" through today's astonishing, computer-assisted cinematic legerdemain. Individual chapters examine components of the special effects artist's toolkit. Optical illusions, models, and animation are each dissected and appreciated, and ditto makeup and sound effects. The chapter headed "Physical Effects" gives simple instructions for creating the illusion of a snowstorm; "fake snow is infinitely preferable to the real thing," Rickett says. Okay, so most of the tricks described aren't fit for home application, but then why should they be? This is a measured account of an integral part of what makes today's movies, as always, bigger than big and huger than huge. Fascinating stuff for gadget freaks, sf geeks, plain old film fans, and picture-book peepers. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

'Richard Rickitt captures the essence of what inspires effects technicians to push the boundaries of creative film-making into the future.' -- Richard Taylor - Design and Effects Supervisor, Weta Workshop, winner of 5 Academy Awards for Lord of the Rings and King Kong 'This splendid volume is a tribute to the great effects pioneers whose innovations continue to inspire new generations of artists.' -- Ray Harryhausen --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Product Description

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

13 Reviews

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book Ever, Dec 1 2002

By

Simon Harryhausen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Effects: The History and the Technique (Hardcover)

Special Effects is THE BEST book you could wish for on the subject. I have a shelf full of old, an mostly inaccurate books about special effects, but with this new book I could throw the rest away. Also, don't bother with magazines like Cinefex anymore, which are very dry and heavy going. this book is a pleasure to read and has interviews with everyone who is important in the business. There are hundreds of cool photos as well which makes it very good value. Anyone who works in special effects, or is just interested in the movies should read this book. Congratulations to the author Mr Rickitt who has condensed 100 years of movie magic into a single lavish book. Dont take my word for it - BUY IT!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good!, Nov 3 2002

By

N. Zacharis "thepatriot13" (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Special Effects: The History and the Technique (Hardcover)

Although i didn't expect to find it so interesting, finally it was really good! Not only does it explain thoroughly every, if not all, technique of the motion picture industry, but it also has a lot of reference to really successful movies! Especially the section that refers to the special effects landmarks makes it unique and complete. It is not something you find in every book and thus it makes it really special.. It has a lot of images and really good explanations and descriptions.. Simply one of the best books on the subject!!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

5.0 out of 5 stars Special Effects, May 23 2002

By

John (Pittsburgh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Effects: The History and the Technique (Hardcover)

Once I picked up the Special Effects book, I seriously could not put it down. This book is truly amazing as it serves not only as an information source, but it is also very entertaining. The first half of the book goes through the decades starting with the 1900's. In each time period Richard discuses the new advancements in film making during that decade, along with writing about some of the best movies form that time. Some of the classics include Singing in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, and many Hitchcock movies. The second half of the book focuses on individual aspects of movie magic. From make-up and costumes, to lighting and pyrotechnics. The book cover many recent movies like Titanic, Star Wars Episode I and The Matrix. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the entertainment field. The book is easy moderate to read and full of amazing color pictures that you won't find anywhere else. Some of the pictures are accurate diagrams of film processes, such as animation, digital effects and camera techniques. I feel that form reading this book I gained a lot of basis knowledge needed to better understand the industry. Did you know that most of the snow used in movies is simply shredded paper? Or how about the fact that 90% of dialogue is movies is recorded and dubbed after the movie is shot! Find out hundreds of more amazing facts in Richard Rickitt's Special Effects: The History and Technique.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 13 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 18 reviews 4.9 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars See how it's done.
For those who want to know ," How did they do that?". This book is a must for you.See how they first discovered how you could trick the movie going public into thinking... Read more

Published on Mar 29 2002 by William Pye

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential background, but expensive
Large and luxuriant, this volume is built for comfort rather than for speed. Intended for the coffee table, it cover the entire history of special effects with generous portions... Read more

Published on Dec 25 2001 by Marque Pierre Sondergaard